The magnificent 7

Signed up were KCC riders (Iain Callaghan slept in and Eddie Smith did a solo) was reduced to the plucky 5; Darren Gillings, Mike Castelette , Andy Payne, Andréa Woolcott, William Lawton and made our wet way to Cafe Ventoux in Tugby. We decided to shorten the route slightly and play a game of ‘cat & mouse’ with the social groupetto, meeting them on their route, passing Stuart Walters (great to see you out on your bike Stu x) “admiring” the countryside in Pipewell.

Andy… full of air – or not

We had a puncture from a hungover Andy “Port” Payne, who tried to “out-sprint” the escaping air up Bringhurst hill, but the puncture won and Andy the “puncheur” lost. So we waited with Andy and waved ‘hello’ and ‘bye bye’ to the social groupetto once again.

We then headed towards Great Eastern, then up towards Horninghold and onto Hallaton, with Mikey chops taking on lead navigation duties, in elation of not being too knackered from his post TT marshalling duties on the previous day!

We reached Cafe Ventoux and said ‘bye bye’ to William on his vintage Peugeot (not bringing the new Cannondale out yet, due to lack of cleats & probably lack of sunshine).

Feasties and coffee

We devoured vegan choccy raspberry coconut cake (Yum said Andréa) & veggie Stilton & mango chutney panini (Nom said Darren) and a flapjack for Mikey chops plus a dodgy looking dead thing in a roll for Andy Payne.

With our wet ‘cafe legs’ we headed out via Glooston onto the tight twisting lanes of Cranoe onto Welham, Ashley and Middleton, we waved ‘bye bye’ to Andy and waved ‘bye bye’ to Mikey chops and we all headed home, wet, full of Ventoux delights and Smiley faces for venturing out on a slightly moist enjoyable Father’s Day Kcc ride.

Photos and dodgy write-up by Andréa. Video of the ride (left) is also on YouTube via the ‘Clipstreme’ channel aka Darren Gillings. For any sports massages see Mikey chops aka Mike Castelette. For Port recommendations see Andy Payne. For second hand bike bargaining tips see William Lawton.

Andréa Woolcott